Blood Crown

Ambrose and I made our way out of the alley hand-in-hand. My mates surprised me more and more every day. Jacobi, my sweet angel king, had turned into a sex fiend, and I couldn’t lie — I loved it. Malachi was now showing me a completely different side of himself. Feisty and possessive, dominating. It was perfect. Even Caspian had started to change, only for me, but it was there, and it meant the world to me. But it was Ambrose’s change that was probably the most drastic. He’d come across as an overly dramatic asshole. He was truly anything but. He loved me with his entire being, and he was so damn proud to show it off. I squeezed his hand.

An explosion rocked the square we were entering, sending us flying back into the alley. My head cracked against the ground, and my ears rang as I tried to blink smoke and debris out of my eyes. Dizziness rocked me as the sound of screams echoed around the square.

Another blast. More screaming.

Taking a fortifying breath, I pushed myself up. Ambrose was just getting to his feet; his eyes focused on me. His mouth was moving, but I couldn’t hear him. It would take a while for my ears to heal. Fuck.

I watched his mouth intently. “We need to get the people out of the square.”

Yes. Right.

With a nod, we both took off out of the alley, and the sight that greeted me ripped my heart from my chest. Bodies were scattered around the square, some hardly recognizable, and body parts littered the area. The scent of blood was so strong it even overpowered the scent of smoke from the explosions. My ears finally stopped ringing only to be replaced with the sounds of screaming, people running, and fighting. Gods, what the hell was happening?

“Ashera!” Ambrose shouted to gain my attention. “There!” He pointed to the opposite side of the square where a group of people dressed in black cloaks stood. Some cast magic while others took off after the civilians.

“You’re faster than I am, Ambrose. You need to get the others!”

“Like fuck am I leaving you here alone.” He stalked over to me, but I was already on the move.

“Just do as I say,” I snapped. In a flash, I grabbed hold of a robed figure who had taken off after a little girl, and the hood fell back to reveal a male vampire. I gripped him tightly as I snarled before ripping out his throat with my bare hands. I took a moment to relish the feel of his blood splattering across my face. These resistance fuckers were going down.

“Ambrose, find Malachi. Tell him he needs to sound the alarm. The people will know what to do. Until then we need to hold them off. We need to get an idea of exactly where these assholes are. I doubt this is the only spot in the city they’ve attacked.” I turned to search his face. I could see that he didn’t want to leave me, but I wasn’t about to give him a choice. My people depended on him not being a fucking princess right now.

“Fine, but I swear, if anything happens to you, I am going to turn your ass red. Do you understand me?” I could feel his anger and concern barreling down the bond. I nodded. He narrowed his eyes on me before taking off in a blur.

A glint caught my eye. Those bastards were streaming this to all the other kingdoms, just as they had my torture. They wanted to play? Fine. Game on.

With a deep inhale I launched myself at the group attacking the square.

* * *

Malachi

I fucking knew these assholes would try something again. They hadn’t been successful kidnapping Ashera, and they wouldn’t rest until they’d made an example of her. Only this time there were more than just vampires involved. This was a widespread, coordinated attack on Cresta City, and I could smell fae and witch magic all over the damn place.

I hacked at the enemies around me with a singular focus that seemed to alarm them. These idiots had no idea who they were dealing with — I wasn’t just a top general; I’d been the best assassin in Shaytan’s history before receiving the rank of general from Ashera. I killed with a silent blade, taking down rebel after rebel without so much as blinking.

Once I finished with the group closest to me, I took a moment to survey the scene around me — trying to determine my next target.

“My lord.” A soldier ran up to me. “There are reports coming in from all over the city.”

“I figured as much.” A rush of air rustled my hair as Ambrose slammed to a stop next to me. I tied the strands back tighter, not wanting them to get in the way. “What the fuck are you doing here? Where’s Ashera?”

“She told me to find you and have you set off the alarm. Now do that so I can get back to her,” he snapped with a glare.

If Ashera wanted me to sound the alarm and evacuate the city, that meant she wasn’t going to fuck around with the resistance. She would be sending a message of her own. I could get behind that.

“Do it and make sure you grab one of the attackers so we can question them later,” I said to the soldier, who bowed and ran off. “Now let’s get back to our queen.”

Ambrose nodded and took off. I took to the skies and allowed the mate bond to pull me to Ashera. I was landing as the alarm started to sound. Once it started, the people knew that they had minutes to flee the city before all hell broke loose. We just needed to hold the resistance off until then.

Jacobi and Caspian came running into the square moments after I landed, and we all looked to Ashera. She stood in the center of the square, bathed head to toe in blood, wings spread wide and anger radiating off her. She was glorious.

She stalked over to us, her hips swaying and her eyes heated. Sher always loved a good fight followed by a solid fuck. We were going to get very lucky when this was all over.

“I’m going to give you all two minutes to get as many people out of the city as you can by whatever means you can. Most of them are already out. But check for anyone who needs help. Then get to the hill we arrived on.” Ashera’s voice was laced with desire as she dragged her gaze over each of us. “I want you all to watch what I do to them, especially you.” Her eyes narrowed on Caspian.

Caspian growled at her before taking off, the rest of us following suit. Ashera was right, most of the citizens had already fled the city. I was able to get three more people out of the city, the resistance now setting fires to the buildings. Our time ran out, and we congregated back on the hill.

Ashera stood there in all her glory, her head flung back, back arched and wings wide. She looked like a goddess of war, ready for vengeance, hungry for blood. It made me rock hard.

“Things might get a little shaky.” She threw a grin over her shoulder at us before returning her focus back to the city.

The ground rumbled, a low roar filling the air. Clenching her hands by her sides, Ashera threw her fists above her head, creating a wall of earth around the city. The resistance was stuck. I adjusted my dick as it throbbed in response to her power. Sher being a badass would always do it for me.

With a deep inhale, Ashera slowly lowered her hands, as she … Holy. Fuck.

The streets were flooding with lava. I could hear the screaming from here, smell the scent of molten earth as it slowly overtook the city. The ground continued to shake beneath our feet.

I glanced over, and all eyes were on our queen. Jacobi was watching her as a lion watched its prey. I smirked, he and I would be pouncing on her as soon as she was finished with her magic. Caspian looked at her in stunned awe, as though he was truly seeing her for the first time. Ambrose had a combination of awe and sheer lust written across his face, almost like he couldn’t quite believe Ashera was real. Same, man. Same.

My eyes moved back to Ashera. Her body was shaking lightly as she continued to wield such powerful forces. I knew she was strong. I knew she was capable of this. And it put my dick in absolute agony to see her in action. When she was finished, she would need to feed. Deeply.

With a sweep of her hands out to her sides, the lava in the city cooled. Fires still raged in some buildings, but she’d ensured that the lava hadn’t caught anything else aflame. And she’d made sure that the buildings were all still standing. Once complete, she sunk the earthen wall back into the ground. An amazing show of magical prowess.

She was finished. Those that had come to sack the city were hopefully dead, except for the single person my soldier had taken earlier. Ashera had set out to send a message, and she damn well succeeded.

Jacobi and I were on her in an instant, the other two still too stunned to move. Jacobi ripped the bloody dress off her before dropping to his knees in front of her. I positioned myself behind her and lifted her lithe body so her legs rested on Jacobi’s shoulders. Her upper body rested against my chest as I wrapped my arms around her so that I could pinch and tease her nipples. The angel king buried his head between her lush, delicious thighs before her head fell back against my shoulder.

Her eyes fluttered closed, and a moan escaped her lips. “Make sure you’re feeding, Sher,” I murmured against her ear, causing her to shiver. Moments later, I felt the pull of her feeding off the sexual energy Jacobi and I were creating. Good. She was bound to be exhausted.

I continued to play with her nipples as Jacobi continued to devour her sweet little pussy. Her hips started to buck, and her breath came in short little pants. She was getting close.

“Do you like the way your once virginal angel king eats your tight little pussy, my queen? Do you enjoy seeing him on his knees as he services you?” She moaned in response. “Do you like knowing that you’ve corrupted him?”

“Gods, yes.” Her voice was breathy and hitched. “I need more.”

Jacobi locked eyes with me as he slid two fingers into her dripping core, moving his mouth to attack her clit. She started to grind her hips on his face. One of Ashera’s hands tangled in Jacobi’s hair as the other tangled in mine.

“That’s it, Sher. Fuck the angel king’s face. Come all over it,” I growled to her. She screamed as she came, crying out both of our names.

We didn’t give her a moment to catch her breath, moving her so her legs were straddling Jacobi’s waist. He surged into her dripping pussy. I used the blood to lubricate her ass before sliding my cock slowly into her. I could feel her clench down and had to grit my teeth as pleasure flooded my body.

“My love, you were amazing.” Jacobi’s praise had Ashera’s face lighting up as bright as the damn sun. I used that moment to slide in completely, all three of us moaning.

I could feel Jacobi’s cock pressing against mine. Shit. Ashera was tiny.

“Move,” she demanded as she once again rested her head against my shoulder.

“Yes, my queen.” I chuckled.

With a brief nod to the angel king, I gripped Ashera’s hips and started to move her along our cocks. Jacobi moved his mouth to cover one of her nipples and trailed his fingers to her clit.

“Harder.” Demanding little thing. But I complied, lifting her hips only to slam them back down on both of us.

We groaned as our little mate cried out her pleasure to the heavens. Each time I slammed her onto my cock I had to fight not to come, not until she was ready. But fuck me, it wasn’t easy. She was still feeding off us, her pheromones drifting on the breeze. It felt like I couldn’t get enough of her, couldn’t get close enough.

Jacobi and I started moving in time with the rise and fall of Ashera’s hips, both of us too caught up in our mate to think straight. She was screaming our names now, chanting them like a prayer, professing her love for any who bothered to overhear us.

That’s what did it. Ashera screaming out that she loved us had me coming so hard I damn near passed out. I felt her clench around both of us as she found her own release, dragging Jacobi over the blissful edge with her.

Panting, I slowly slid her off our cocks, all three of us groaning when she was free. I placed her gently on her feet, adjusting my pants and taking off my shirt to tug it over her now naked body. Her dress had been ruined — not that any of us minded, and my shirt was long enough to keep her covered. But we needed to go through the city and make sure the buildings were actually empty and to start putting out the fires, and none of us wanted her walking around the city naked.

“What the fuck did I just watch?” Caspian demanded.

“You just watched me get fucked to the heavens, Caspian.” Ashera shot a broad grin at him over her shoulder. “I didn’t think we were hiding anything.”

“Not that,” he growled, gesturing to the city with a dramatic flair of his arm.

“I flooded the city with lava.” My mate turned to face the fae prick.

“How the hell were you able to do that?” He stomped over to her. Since she was so short, he towered above her, her head hardly reaching his sternum. “That kind of elemental magic…”

“I’ve always been able to do magic like this if I’m well fed.” Ashera shrugged. “It got the job done, didn’t it?”

Caspian glowered down at her, but she just shook her head. “We don’t have time for this. Why don’t you get all pissy later? We have people who need to be soothed, tended to, and relocated.” He reluctantly nodded, storming off into the city ahead of us.

I shrugged, gesturing after the fae, and one by one we trailed behind him. We had a lot of ground to cover, and a lot of people to check on.

Good thing there were five of us now.